In 2007, the Colorado Legislature appropriated money to the Governor's Energy Office (GEO) from the limited gaming tax and the severance tax to establish and maintain the state's Clean Energy Fund. All moneys in the Clean Energy Fund are continuously appropriated to the GEO for the purposes of advancing energy efficiency and renewable energy throughout the state. The New Energy Economic Development (NEED) program previously received its funding from the Clean Energy Fund to provide grants to support renewable energy and energy efficiency throughout the state.

In August 2010, the GEO announced that it had issued 23 grants from its latest solicitation. The grants total $2.2 million allocated to Colorado by the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.